Dear friends, On November 10, I’ll turn 88 years old. I know many of you are wracking your brains about how best to celebrate — and especially, what gift to send. Allow me to offer a few helpful hints: - I gave up drinking at age seven, after wetting my pants from too much wine at a seder.
- I quit gambling at nine, when I caught my grandmother cheating me at canasta. - I stopped smoking when Marlboros reached the shocking price of 37¢ a pack. - These days, our diet is low salt, low calorie, gluten-free, lactose-free, and vegetarian-leaning — in other words, joy-free. Because of these handicaps, I’d rather not struggle to bring in the hundreds (thousands?) of packages you might be planning to send. Nor do I wish to spend my golden years separating all that “recyclable” packaging that may not, in fact, be recycled. The same logic applies to paper greeting cards. I’m also trying not to support companies that replace workers with robots, or “nonprofits” that pay their executives like investment bankers. So what’s left? Ah, coffee — my lifelong companion. Even during World War II, my parents made sure I got my “fair share” by adding a splash of coffee to my milk. Later, I served it at the lunch counter in my father’s drugstore — to folks stepping off the #15 trolley, to the Tindley Temple choir, and to those who simply needed a little comfort in a cup. When Dad had to raise the price from a nickel to a dime, he was nearly in tears, worried some regulars would lose not just their caffeine but their community. And then there were road trips with my grandfather, of blessed memory. Every half hour or so, he’d cry out, “Coffee! Coffee!” — a sacred commandment to stop at the next diner. For us kids, that meant stretching our legs, using the restroom, and, with luck, scrounging a nickel for the pinball machine. So yes — what I really want for my birthday is coffee. Not the messy, liquid kind; not even beans or grounds. I mean the modern, sanitary, electronic version. ? Just click the Buy Me a Coffee button. With your gift, I’ll have a coffee — the rest will, of course, go to support my favorite “charities,” such as MetLife, Travelers, and Instacart. https://buymeacoffee.com/veterinary_wisdom Thank you for your good wishes, your kindness, and, above all, your company — virtual or otherwise. And may you also live long enough to have people wondering what on earth to get you. If you rceived this in error or in duplicate, please feel free to delete or forward it. Warm regards, Stephen Stephen Dubin V.M.D., Ph. D.Guerir quelquefois, soulager souvent, consoler toujours.https://substack.com/@eldervet ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
